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Updated: Aug 15, 2026

Fixed Volume or Fixed Pressure: A Murine Model of Hemorrhagic Shock
Published on: June 6, 2011
Ephedrine in the initial treatment of haemorrhagic shock
1Department of Anaesthesiology, Hadassah University Hospital, Jerusalem, Israel.
The initial treatment for hypotension due to blood loss is intravenous fluids. Occasionally there is need for additional medication, as well as stopping the source of the bleeding. The literature in the main discusses the use of dopamine. Ephedrine has not been reviewed as useful in such situations. This article discusses the immediate use of ephedrine in the treatment of shock due to bleeding; its special quality is as a catecholamine whose venoconstrictor component is stronger than its arterioconstrictor component. Thus, its effect of increasing venous return is more significant than arterial vasoconstriction.
The initial treatment for hypotension due to blood loss is intravenous fluids. Occasionally there is need for additional medication, as well as stopping the source of the bleeding. The literature in the main discusses the use of dopamine. Ephedrine has not been reviewed as useful in such situations. This article discusses the immediate use of ephedrine in the treatment of shock due to bleeding; its special quality is as a catecholamine whose venoconstrictor component is stronger than its arterioconstrictor component. Thus, its effect of increasing venous return is more significant than arterial vasoconstriction.
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